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Sunday, July 22, 2012

One Last Parting Shot

Before we move on and analyze the 2012-2013 Houston Rockets and their next move for a big man (DHoward or Bynum), lets watch Israel Gutierrez's "Parting Shot - Don't Blame Lin". I would love to see him and Stephen A. Smith go at it.

83 comments:

Here are my thoughts on Stephen A. He tends to do whatever he thinks will bring him attention. I actually question if he agrees with all the things he says. He doesn't just give Jeremy a hard time, but other players too. It seems to me that he may pursue any chance he gets to be controversial as a tactic to be a sought after sports analyst.

It sounds like Stephen A. has a "hit list" of people he can attack, and a "friend list" of people he will support.

Carmelo and Lebron are firmly on his friend list, and he will never say anything bad about them, so that he can cultivate a relationship with the top stars in sports. Jeremy Lin was unexpected, he was not supposed to become a top star, and so now he's the outsider who threatens the way that superstars are appointed in the NBA.

Stephen A. Smith is a jack*ss. He is a sensationalist not an analyst. I know that he spews lies and nothing else. I never listen to him or read any of his write ups. One less reader gets him closer to joblessness. I hope everyone does the same, boycott SAS! In the meantime, I hope he can be sued for defamation, libel, or slander. Seriously, where do we draw the line.

True, most sports fans don't take Stephen A. seriously at all. He has a small fan base that will support him, and his opinion, no matter what. You can see these people filling up forums and comments sections as if they have nothing better to do than be parrots and repeat everything Stephen A. said.

One doesn't need a very big fan base to be famous .... they just need some fans to really support them to the extreme.

Forget about stephen a, karma will bite him back one day. You don't mess with God's beloved child like Jeremy. Lol move on then. I think the Rockets should bring Yi Jianlian for many different reason, on and off the court. He could help Jeremy detract some attention from the chinese media. The US media alone will be too much for Jeremy, especially being the only star on the team. On the court i think Yi is very talented but that mofo need to straight his mind and mentality up, i think Jeremy could help resurrect his career. A lot of scouts and basketball figures highly rated his game even Kobe said "he's extremely talented and just haven't found the right system yet". He need to stop playing like Dirk, he spend too much time outside the paint. I remember that mofo once drop 27 & 15 on the Knicks. He needs to develop his post game and having Kevin McHale as a coach will benefits him and being in Houston he could learn a thing or two from Olajuwon.

Itsn't funny how Asik have the same contract n no one is giving him a hard time about it as much as JLin. It this telling us something? Well on the other hand i dont think the rockets should go after D12, he will probably b a problem rather the a help to the team. He got the coach fired n orlando doesnt want him so why go after players that doesnt want to play for the team. We dont want another carmelo on the team!!!!! Just wait and see what JLin can do with this young team...experience doesnt mean much...just look at JLin vs Kidd JLin has less experience but way better then Kidd.wat im saying is let the rookies stay and see what the can do with the team...we may see another JLin in the making coming next season....JLin will make them look good n fun playing as a team..JLin is all about team playing!!!! No more big name playing like Carmelo we dont need that in Houston. JLin will play fast n fun watchinh...cannot wait for the upcoming season!!!!

How can we partition for Yi to come to the rockets??? He is good but have never given the right chemistry maybe JLin will make him better. I feel bad to see him on the bench all the time and waste his talent remember he got drafted 1st round 6 th spot, so they must have seen somethingcin him in the first place. Give him a chance on a right system. Let get Yi

Think getting yi would be a great idea. what does the rockets have to lose considering he plays for minimum pay. Yi is fast for his height so if lin can work with him on handling lob passes this would make for some exciting plays.

Abc baller, thanks for the explanation. I think yi is kind of like jlin guy, i think he work really hard too like jlin just to get a chance to play in NBA. but the result turn out not as good as he thought...like to see him get more chance like Jlin

Yi's problem is that everybody has been trying to make him into a power forward when his true natural position is small forward.

Pro coaches look at Yi's size and assume that he's a PF or C. Yet Yi is not naturally a banger and doesn't pivot well.

If Yi were my player, I'd hire Adrian Dantley to teach him how to score from the triple threat and in postups. Dantley could teach Yi how to play the inside outside transition game on both ends of the court.

The best case scenario for Yi would for him to become a poor man's Andrea Bargnani.

While Prigione is an international star who plays well against the US team, it's hard for me to imagine him thriving in the NBA where opponents are bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, and way more physical.

It's one thing to see Prigione scooting around the perimeter handing the ball off to well positioned teammates or beating less athletic big men off the dribble. But once Prigione gets to the NBA where super quick guards beat him to his spots and even the big men are quick enough to stay with him on his drives, it's going to be Turnover City or turnstile passing on offense with blowbys and smackdowns on defense.

When we watch Prigione with the Knicks next year (if he can even get onto the court), we'll see how much more effective Jeremy Lin was as a Knick PG.

"It [the negative comments] did kind of hurt. I had to remind myself who I'm living for... I really want to reach my potential to bring glory to God. That is more motivation than haters and doubters."

Lin said he sensed the problems it could cause, so he took extra efforts to avoid the perception he was letting it get to his head. He said he turned down every late night talk show and started limited interview requests. Every press conference, he made sure to lift up his teammates. He even passed up millions and millions of dollars by rejecting endorsement deals. He wound up signing just two, Volvo and Steiner Sports (he already had a Nike deal).

"I didn't go back to them and ask for more money," Lin said. "It wasn't like they gave me the choice to sign one of the two and I chose the one that would hurt the Knicks. I had one contract offer. That was it."

Has anyone read this article? The Realism about Lin's RFA Processhttp://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1197049

It specifically clarified the RFA process and relative CBA rules. If it is completely correct, Lin and his agent should not be blamed and all the accusations against them of manipulating the offer were groundless. The sports analysts who criticized Lin for being disloyal were either ignorant of RFA process or just downright spiteful.

Here are some facts in the article:

"There is no reasonable basis for any fan to claim Lin should have immediately settled for $10M less by simply signing with the Knicks and foregoing the free agent process. There is no precedent for this to support Lin was greedy. He was simply playing according to the rules."

"Once he enters this process with the other team, basic protocol requires him, and primarily his agent, to work under the assumption he may actually be playing for the bidding team and not his former team. He cannot undermine the bidder. LIN COULD NOT NEGOTIATE WITH ANOTHER TEAM IN BAD FAITH AND USE THEM TO STAY WITH THE KNICKS."

"Contrary to repeated statements by some fans, Lin and his agent therefore have no right nor ability to simultaneously inform the Knicks of the negotiations with the Rockets. People claiming Lin owed the Knicks an on-going explanation is false as it is basically illegal."

"Lin could very much have wanted the Knicks to match, but he had zero power to influence the outcome as some propose. He could not go behind the Rockets back to tell the Knicks of impending deals and then communicate back to the Rockets this would not suit the Knicks. This is beyond absurd. This is not only impossible, it is completely unethical, so anybody who still claims Lin was manipulating the situation to force a deal the Knicks would not match is not dealing with the realities of the process itself."

"The Houston Rockets' needs drove their offer terms, not Lin's personal needs. The concept that the Rockets changing the terms of an initial verbal offer to a higher written offer is dishonorable is false. If there was a provision stating this was in violation of any NBA rule, then the Rockets would have been penalized, but it doesn't exist."

Seriously, let it go. First off, don't try to play both sides by claiming that A) New York was a bad situation for Lin and it is good that he left and B) Lin was committed to New York and badly wanted to return at the same time. The reason: put those two together and you have Lin being committed to and trying his best to return to a bad situation. If that is true, then what does that say about Lin? The answer: nothing good.

Second, don't pretend as if the folks on this site could care less about Knick fans or have their best interests at heart. Nearly all of the participants on this site have been rooting for the Knicks to be terrible ever since they fired D'Antoni. So if you are against their team, why do you care if they hold a grudge against your player? They should be as free to spend as much time trashing your player as the folks on this site did bashing their team. And like it or not, they have a reason for doing so. If Jeremy Lin wanted to stick around badly enough, he would have signed and allowed New York to match the contract that he and the Rockets agreed to. Every Knick fan knows this - because it is true - and they aren't going to pretend otherwise because it makes Lin fans upset. (Again, especially since Lin fans didn't care about the feelings of Knicks fans when they spent months rooting against the Knicks.)

Knick fans lost out on this deal - big time - and they aren't going to blame it on Dolan, Woodson and Melo being anti-Asian bigots. Instead, they are going to point to Lin going back to the Rockets and asking for a second contract after the Knicks had agreed to pay him $28.5 million. Knick fans are going to come to the very reasonableconclusion that Lin never really wanted to come back to New York and resent him for it. The only recourse that Lin fans are going to have is to root against the Knicks in response, but as Lin fans were doing that already, what has really changed?

There is no use arguing with irrational haters like "Unknown" and pointing to the mountains of evidence showing that Lin did nothing wrong, and he had ONE offer to sign total in front of him, not two. Blame the Knicks for gleefully telling the entire world (including Houston) that the first verbal offer wasn't good enough, and that Houston (motivated to get Lin after losing their PG's) needed to increase their offer to get Lin. Also don't blame Lin that the Knicks completely ignored him for two weeks while trying to get Nash, Kidd, Camby and Felton.

Irrational haters like Unknown, just like Mayweather, will try to make it seem like Melo wasn't hated before. Talk about selective memory. Knicks fans were BOOING Melo mercilessley before Linsanity ever started. He has a long line of coaches and fans who have hated him long before Lin took over a Knicks team that was 8-15.

To further add, there are hundreds of thousands of fans who have posted on various sites who all think Screaming A Smith is a complete joke. He's already been exposed for multiple lies, twisting facts, and making things up. He deserves to be fired by ESPN again (yes, a second time) for his shameless lies and slander. This is a guy who repeatedly said Lin quit at 85% even though Lin was never cleared by any doctors for the playoffs, and meniscus recovery takes 6 weeks which was Round2 at the earliest. This is a guy who said Jeremy Lin dropped out of the US Select Team because he wanted to get paid and not risk injury, nevermind the fact that US Select players are required to be under contract and Lin received zero offers from the Knicks which prevented him from playing.Screaming A Smith is either completely incompetent, can't understand even basic facts, or deliberately lies and twists things to blindly support Melo which he knows is also failing big time.

seriously, unknown above, u need to seriously get the situation right and seriously put yourself in Jlin's shoes. and seriously blame the knicks, they said all the time we want jlin back we are matching any offer, seriously, where is that? seriously how come the media don't make a big deal out of this and seriously with only one serious offer from Houston, what will you do? seriously nobody know what happened inside the knicks. seriously, do the knicks really want jlin to be back? i mean seriously? so why do some of the knicks fans only know to blame on Jlin? seriously, I strongly truly believe if knicks had come make the offer being the first one to jlin right after seriously, he will sign it right off without all these craziness. seriously, the knicks deserve no trust. Most of us lin fans we are not trashing the knicks with no reason, and with that said, we are not "trashing". at least we are not trashing the knicks with hatred languages. We make our point clear. We just felt Jlin don't deserve to treated this way by the knicks!

It's so funny how complete CLOWNS like Screaming A Smith go on fan websites for a specific player and accuse them of being fans of that player more than any team. Meanwhile, Screaming A is clearly a Melo-noma fan before he's a Knicks fan. This is a guy from Philly (fired once before already from ESPN) who completely ignored Melo's despicable 0-6 tank job to get D'Antoni fired, ignored Melo's 8-15 Knicks record, ignored Jason Kidd's drunk driving, because he was singularly obsessed with trashing a young undrafted kid who overcame a lot of adversity.

Yeah, that's just like the "Doctor" Stephen A. Smith. He thinks he knows more about Jeremy Lin's knee injury than the trainers, doctors, and Jeremy himself. Doctor Stephen A. has a n X-ray and MRI machine in his cell phone ... so of course he knows what it feels like being 85%. He's probably never suffered a serious injury in his life.

Also, SAS is making himself look bad. If I were his boss at CAA, I would sit him down and caution him about criticizing Lin too overtly. SAS's attacks of a cleancut guy in Lin are making not just SAS look bad,.but CAA'S other clients too.

Lin might not be a CAA client, but they're advertising him via SAS as if he is one of their own.

If SAS truly wanted to sicken people about Lin, he'd pour on the fake flattery and do the REVERSE of what he's doing. The Lin haters would choke in their hatred and multiply.

It's like the old parable. The wind tried to blow a guy's cloak off, but he held onto it tighter. Meanwhile the sun shines and shines until the guy has to take off the cloak.

"I DIDN'T GO BACK TO THEM AND ASK FOR MORE MONEY," LIN SAID. "I WASN'T LIKE THEY GAVE ME THE CHOICE TO SIGN ONE OF THE TWO AND I CHOSE THE ONE THAT WOULD HURT THE KNICKS. I HAD ONE CONTRACT OFFER. THAT WAS IT."http://www.mercurynews.com/jeremy-lin/ci_21139356/jeremy-lin-exclusive-i-will-always-have-haters

As for people on here hating on Nykfans, ...??? I think people's beef is with the way the FO treated JLin. Why must this become a Nykfans vs JLinfans thing?[Personally I think Nyk fans deserves better, & should find a way to save the franchise from being completely plowed into the ground by Dolan & Co.]

“After we came to a rough agreement on that deal (with Lin), Goran (leaving) became certain,” Morey said. “We were all concerned about not having a point guard. It was Mr. (Leslie) Alexander’s idea to get more aggressive.”

In the next few days, the Rockets reworked the offer to $25.1 million over three years, all guaranteed. Heavily back-loaded, it would force the Knicks to pay $14.9 million in the third season of the contract, the first season of the more punitive luxury tax. For the Rockets, each season will count roughly $8.4 million toward the salary cap and luxury tax.

“We talked about it internally for a while,” Morey said. “We brought it up to his agents, asking if they would be OK with more money, and shockingly, they were open to it.”

On a separate note, has anyone read this article? http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/07/23/scola-rockets-said-they-wanted-to-go-younger/ . Scola is saying that the team wants to tank the next 3-4 years. I seriously hope he's wrong. It would be awful to watch Jlin on a 20 win team. What do you guys think?

I don't think they will spend $50M on Lin & Asik just to tank the next 3 to 4 years? They could have done that with the roster they already had.

That doesn't even make a bit of sense. I don't think that when he said “They told me they don’t think they’re going to be doing nothing in the next 3-4 years, which is when I’m going to be a player. They’re trying to go younger, and they’re looking 3-4 years ahead.” means tanking. Call me naive, but my take on that is because the roster is young they are not going to be championship contender this year but it doesn't mean they will be lazy and sleep through the season. It's everyone trying to get a feel of the game and each other to build & make up a contender team. In 3 to 4 years, all these young guys will be at their prime hopes to be a contender. Luis Scola doesn't quite fit in the "rebuilding" mode.

I don't think it was an insult, and its no secret. The rockets have not directly said the word tanking, but morey, Alexander, mchale, Lin, have all subtly acknowledged they might not be very good next year. Rebuilding years are for some, tanking.

One doesn't get to this level without a strong sense of self/ ego, esp in JLin's case where almost every door was slammed-shut. ...Not sure though if servant-leader type humility is the best way to move these type of men. [Perhaps less St Paul, more Jesus-The-LawBreaker?]

oops, not implying 'picking up trash' etc is a put-on. It's nice he's trying to counter becoming conceited.But humbling oneself this way may not be the way to go when one is trying to claim space within a pack of alpha-wannabes...

Let forget this bullshit !!!!!! Like Lin said all the hater will always hate no matter what he does.....The knicks didnt want him in the first place otherwise they would have gave him a contract....what is he suppose to do if the knicks din give hime an offer if he din sign with houston he would be jobless so of course for being cut n rejected from many teams he is going to sign the first offer that was given to him which is the rockets....who in their dumb mind would not sign a contract in Lin situation. If it were other player they would demand a max offer 4yrs $40 mill and all the endorsements.....right????? But hi is not about the money he is about god, basketball n being humble...so all the bitches out there can hate all they want....Jlin will b a super star very soon n people can eat his shit!!!!!!! He is the only real roal model in the NBA !!!!!!!!! That who i want my kid to look up to........not all them fake tatooos MoFo overpaid NBA players.... JLin any day bitches...........

Just to let all you hater out there.. my black ass just preorder 10 JLin #7 jersey for each of my black ass family to show we support JLin........all u bitches n hater out there suck it!!!!!!! My nigga ass is out!!!! Peace c u in Houston JLin.......much love..

that's what we like about linsanity so much because it shows us skin color is no longer a difference and a bias among us, we are the same, we cheer for the same thing we believe in. sport should like music, no boundary because of ethnicity. we should enjoy it simply because we like it. Jlin break the gap among race, that's why I like him so much! everytime I see people from different ethnicity wear his jersey i feel so proud not because of he is asian but because of the way the world embrace each other, sending out the message that we are one whole. Different race should not be a problem prohibit us from understanding each other.

Jeremy's story and character truly inspires people of all color, race and background that had experienced adversity to persevere, be humble and play/live for one audience of God.

I'm also glad to have a positive role model for my two growing boys that we all can root for. You are right that he does not live for money or fame but he is all about doing his best for God to treat people the right way and do the right things. That's so hard to find these days!

I am also hopeful that he and his teammates will have the right chemistry to do the the right thing in Houston because most of them are likely to be humble like Jeremy according to what he said in the press conference.

You can see how much he emphasized being humble for himself as a servant leader and as a team to be successful. On the flip side, it's probably a reflection on what NY team lacked as a team by having too much ego and not play as a team.

"...Q: When you began playing for the Knicks, you were relatively unknown and with little expectations. When you play again, we get an idea today of what kind of scrutiny and spotlight you will have. How do you feel about dealing with that, playing under that kind of attention and expectations compare to last time?

Lin: I just want to make sure that I play for God and I play hard and I can be OK with anything else. I had dinner with Chandler Parsons last night. We kind of talked about the team andthe guys that are coming in. They are humble. It doesn’t matter in terms of outside distractions, I think we are all focusing on getting better as a team and moving forward...Q: What can you personally bring to the Houston Rockets and to the city of Houston?

Lin: The only thing I can promise is that I am going to give my best effort and try my best to a great play maker, be a great decision maker, I am going to try my best to be a humble leader and to serve my teammates. That’s my goal and I want to get better as a player and this team to get better. We are going to put our best foot forward."

It's great that we have other races other than Asian on this forum. Some people transcend race...as I've mentioned before in this forum, I was so happy when Obama became president because it gave hope to all minorities that anything is possible in this country. I told my brother that we'd never see a black/minority president in my lifetime..I'm glad I was wrong. Jlin fits into this category of "anything is possible" for all minorities. It's also great to know that Asian's aren't the only Jlin fans as the media loves to remind us.

They need headlines and it seems bashing JLIN repeatedly are their favouroti pass time. Let's wait up a bit and they will shift their focus back to their again. JLIN already a ROCKETS and move on; therefore the NY press should snap out of it and write something new.

I'm constantly amused by haters who say that Jeremy should've shown his loyalty to the Knicks by refusing to sign the second offer and asking for a contract that would be less painful to the Knicks (without the luxury tax hit). In their desire to hate on Jeremy, for whatever reason, these fools choose to overlook the facts that:1) If Jeremy were to ask for a Knick-friendly contract, Houston would obviously pull their offer, leaving Jeremy with nothing. The Knicks could then lowball Jeremy. Jeremy's agents would be irresponsible to let Jeremy take a risk like this, and Jeremy would be a fool to put himself in a risky position.

2) Who in their right mind would ignore a better offer? No one would, and haters are hypocrites for saying this, because they'd do what Jeremy did.

3) The Knicks have NEVER had a problem paying luxury taxes, and they were the ones saying they would bring Jeremy back, and would pay "up to a billion". So the Knicks are the ones who went back on their word. The WTF move is on the Knicks.

Finally Jeremy owes the Knicks NOTHING. He played each game he was in with all his heart, takiing a beating by repeatedly driving into the lane, without fear of hard fouls. HE gave the fans what they wanted. Jeremy ended Cablevision's fight with Time Warner, and made money for the Knicks organization, so he gave the Knicks organization what they wanted. Jeremy did his part, and Dolan got pissed because he took a gamble, and lost because the Rockets felt Jeremy was worth 3/25.

Thats all true.....knicks should have given him an offer first Lin would have sign a 4yrs $20 mil but they want to test the market. N that what they got!!!!! It good for Lin to be with the rockets any way now he can call it his team rather then playing a chess game with melo n jr smith. Where is spike lee??????

Hahahaha very fun just to turn on the NYC sport radio n no want want to talk about JLin anymore because they cannot find anything bad about JLin. Everytime JLin name come up the quickly trying to talk about something else. They knew they was wrong in talking bad about Lin n the truth hurth hurt n will blow up in their Fing face.....hahahahah that goes for SAS as well....bigblack will support my boy JLin...peace : )

Good points. And I sense we are ready to leave the Knicks' dreadful free agency saga behind and focus our attention on JLin and the Rockets. Nothing more needs to be said about the Knicks. I stay away from articles talking about them, and I don't listen to any Knicks sponsored commentators. They are the past and the Rockets are the future. Into the dust bin of history you go New York, and welcome to Houston! :)

Well, Jeremy Lin did not start sleeping with multiple sexy women, make boastful comments about his ability, or go on any late night shows (He turned down the David Letterman Show so he can prepare vs. the Raptors.) he's much more grounded and humble than Tim Tebow ... who has become very overblown, overexposed, and lavished with celebrity status.

"Ichiro Suzuki will take over as Asian American fan favorite in NY."

Do they realize that Ichiro (No offense, he's an All-Star caliber baseball player) is a Japanese national and not Asian American ? Do they expect people to immediately forget about Jeremy Lin and all he did, to switch their support for a baseball veteran star. Nothing against Ichiro, but that's not how a loyal fanbase operates.

ABC, what can you do? They have to do something to keep their minds off, well...who else JLin7. They need a replacement. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before they could have another comparable story in sports or that feeling the entire city of New York had felt during the extraordinary February run.

we should all move on. we should move on and focus on the future. lets wait for the season to start and see what jlin has to bring for houston. all I hope for him is a healthy body and great teammate around him. if houston can make to the playoff I will really happy for him even if they lose the first round!

i predict rockets make the playoffs next season after acquiring asik. they don't need howard. i think 3 of their 4 rookies will be surprising after seeing what they can do in summer league. and w/ martin @ sg, chandler @ sf, there is a lot of depth...no need to make a trade...just need time for jlin and team to gel...go rockets!!

That's a bold prediction, maybe not too far off. The Rockets are good at developing big men with low post game. Coach Kevin Mchale used to be an expert low post scorer and defender. They also have Hakeem Olajuwon as a consultant, and he lives in Houston (Amare Stoudemire is paying him $100,000 for a 2-week training course in post up moves.)

So if Motiejunas and Omer Asik are not yet consistent in posting up and finishing at the rim ... they will be by the middle of the season.